July 27, 2016

McGuireWoods partner Andrea Chomakos (Charlotte) and associate Michael Barker (Richmond) analyzed the complexity of North Carolina’s law governing the inheritance rights of surviving spouses in an article for the July edition of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Newsletter.

Chomakos and Barker are members of the firm’s nationally recognized Private Wealth Services group. In their article, “My Spouse Died and All I Got Was . . . Challenges in Determining and Asserting the Rights of Surviving Spouses,” they explain the legal hurdles a surviving spouse must overcome to effectively protect his or her rights under North Carolina’s elective share statute. Those rights are difficult to understand and must be asserted quickly, they note. For the law’s purpose to be achieved, “it is imperative that lawyers, government officials, and members of the general public alike be informed about the law.”